Mike Bulbe invites EVERYONE…to the Monday Night Council Meeting

by Mike Bulbe

Dear Seal Beach Residents

If you are as confused and mystified about the DWP property (the 10 acres on First Street in Old Town) and how the city came to pay the developers $1,000,000 (yep, that’s a million dollars) for land that the developers cannot use, then come to the Seal Beach City Council meeting this Monday, June 13.  The city staff will explain this…. perhaps.

As it stands, the one million dollars the city spent bought approximately seven acres of land that has a history of contamination, the part where the power plant used to be. How this contamination has been handled is questionable, and it is not clear to me what level of cleanup has been achieved.  If the DWP property is anything like contaminated sites around the country and in other parts of Seal Beach, there is no telling how much liability the city is taking on, nor how much it will cost to resolve.

The developers originally planned 39 lots for houses on the DWP property, mostly on the part of the property that is away from the contamination.  Then the original 39 lots inflated to 48 lots on a bigger footprint of land.  The city actually GAVE the developers some additional land to account for some of the increase in the number of lots!

The City Council decided not to press the developers for money to create park or open space on the city’s purchased property. (This could have been done using existing state laws that allow cities to assess developers routinely.)

I could go on, but I think you understand what I’m driving at.  The developers bought ten acres of waterfront property for less than 5 million dollars, sold a portion of this to the city for a million dollars, and now plan 48 lots on the part that is left over.  It looks to me like the citizens of Seal Beach could be left holding the bag, a noxious bag, and so could the city council members.

Bring your questions to the Seal Beach City Council meeting.  That is this Monday, June 13, at 7 PM, at City Hall on Eighth Street in Old Town.

If you cannot attend, the meeting will be broadcast to Time Warner subscribers on channel 3.

DWP Overlay Boundaries Map 6-11[2]

This is an opportunity to create a legacy worthy of the future of Seal Beach.